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The Buffaloes hope to get their nickel's worth of solid tackling, as well as pass defense, from Parker Orms this season. (Jim Urquhart, The Associated Press)

BOULDER — The challenges of facing all those spread offenses in college football — multiplied by tricky variations and multiple options available for each play — is enough to keep a defensive coach awake at night.

The season opener is still a few weeks away, and Colorado defensive coordinator Greg Brown could already use a nap.

"Yeah, I don't get much sleep," Brown said.

When Brown shuts his eyes, he probably visualizes a chalkboard, with an opposing coach dressed like a mad scientist devising wild and crazy formations.

These days, you never know what offensive minds will plan. The cat-and-mouse game between offense and defense seems to get exponentially more complicated.

Spread offenses may split out four, even five receivers. Consequently, a base defense these days may include five or six defensive backs in a "nickel" or "dime" package.

"It's so innovative with the twists that offensive coordinators put on these schemes; it seems like we're facing a different tact each week," Brown said. "That's tough to handle. You spend a lot of time preparing, covering all the bases about what they might do pass-wise, what they might do with the run."

The demands placed upon defensive coaches in the pass-happy Pac-12 Conference are about to get even more ridiculous.

Four teams have new coaches, and each favors the spread offense. That leaves Colorado, Southern California and Stanford as perhaps the only Pac-12 offenses that won't primarily set up in some fashion of the spread.

"It's now, 'How fast can we go?' " Brown said. "They're all trying to get defenses to become predictable and sit back on their heels in their calls. So as a defense, you have to counteract that by having a lot of up-tempo practices yourself."

Defenses have been forced to adapt and adjust. The evolution of the nickel back is a case in point.

A decade or more ago, the nickel back, or fifth defensive back, was usually a cornerback or safety that wasn't quite good or athletic enough to be a starter. The nickel was called an "extra" defensive back, which in itself connotes a position of lesser importance. But now, a team's nickel back may possess the best coverage skills on the defense.

"I see that all the time — teams bring in an extra cornerback and move their good corner to nickel," said Colorado junior quarterback Jordan Webb, the new Buffs starter who played two years at Kansas.

"That's the way it's going these days," Webb added. "We have to be aware of the nickel because he's usually very fast. He's usually a good tackler as well. We have to account for him on every play."

Nickel backs often are assigned the slot (inside) receiver. But that can change at the snap.

"Defenses seem to be doing a lot of disguising," Webb said.

Colorado's starting nickel back junior Parker Orms was a two-way standout on a Wheat Ridge High School team that claimed a state championship. Orms excelled in both running back and free safety, but he didn't play nickel back until arriving at CU.

"When I got here (to Colorado), and somebody said 'nickel back,' I didn't even know what that was," Orms recalled of playing on the CU scout-team defense while redshirting in 2009.

The nickel back is more involved in run support than regular cornerbacks and must be adept at open-field tackling.

Defenses and individual defenders had better be versatile.

"The game is now all about speed," longtime CU linebackers coach Brian Cabral said. "There's no question speed is more important to a defense than size."

Safeties are often converted to linebackers. Linebackers are turned into defensive ends. Safeties run like cornerbacks.

And it is not just at the college level.

"Instead of concepts trickling down from the NFL to college, it's going the other way," said Brown, who coached 15 years in the pros. "And there's stuff in the major conferences that guys picked up from the smaller ones.

"It's like, 'Hey, let's give this a shot. Let's mix this with this and see what happens.' "

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

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